To the Editor

Jully 31, 2015
Dear Editor:
In a recent article you wrote in reference to the Cricket Valley Energy Transmission Upgrade project, currently under review by the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS), that “The latest CVE proposal is a new line of monotowers as high as 181 feet.” With respect, I would like to correct this inaccuracy and provide important background about the Transmission Upgrade and the Cricket Valley Energy Center.
There are no 181-foot tall monopoles in the design under review by the DPS.
Here’s the background: Cricket Valley Energy Center is a fully-permitted, 1,000-megawatt highly efficient combined cycle power plant that will replace a dormant industrial site on Route 22 in Dover. Before breaking ground on this $1 billion project that promises to create more than 750 construction jobs over three years and substantial tax revenue for Dover and Dutchess County, Cricket Valley Energy (CVE) has been required by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) to increase transmission capacity, redundancy, and operational capabilities to the New York State grid by funding and installing an electric power transmission line in the existing Consolidated Edison, Inc., (Con Edison) right-of-way (ROW) between the Town of Dover and the Con Edison substation in Pleasant Valley. The NYISO also requires re-conductoring a 3.4-mile segment of the existing transmission line in the same ROW between the CVE substation in Dover and the Connecticut state line. Once complete, the transmission project will become the property of Con Edison.
Through a robust public outreach program in the communities in which the ROW is located—Pleasant Valley, Dover, LaGrange and Union Vale—we have engaged the ideas and input of residents and local elected officials. As a result, monopole height has been reduced by as much as 48 feet in Pleasant Valley.
The existing towers (all lattice) in the current ROW are 81- to 128-feet tall, averaging 99 feet. The Transmission Upgrade project includes two poles near Union Vale Airport that are 171-feet high and two in Dover that are 167-feet high. The remaining poles range in height from 65 to 157 feet and average 118 feet.
Additional detail is available at our project website, www.cricketvalleytransmission.com.
We look forward to our continuing conversation with community members to advance a project that respects community values and meets the state’s goals for energy resilience.
Sincerely,
Robert M. De Meyere
Project Manager
Cricket Valley Energy
Community Outreach Office
5 Market Street/PO Box 407
Dover Plains, NY 12522info@cricketvalley.com